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DAVID MERRIMAN ON THE MAKINGS OF A MODEL BUILDER
I, of course, need no introduction. However, before I proceed further, lets get some terms straight:
Most of you are
common kit-assemblers. You are not 'model builders'. You simply stick model kits together. That painted hunk
of styrene or resin resting so proudly on your dresser: the real model building was performed not by you, but by a guy who worked the masters, from which the tools that made the plastic parts were made, the parts that were dumped into a box, a box containing the plastic kit parts you bought at the store.
(Nowadays, CAD and CNC technologies have even dispensed with the need of employing Model Builders - Some companies take the work straight from drawing, to tool, to injection forming machine, to
you, the kit assembler).
No, you stick model kits together, you are not a Model Builder.
I, on the other hand (and a precious
few other CultTVMan guild members), am a true Model Builder - I create models from the basic construction mediums.
Accomplished Model Builders work with such mediums as clay, wood, metal, sheet plastic (and
extruded industrial shapes), expanded foams, resin, and the like. We employ fabrication techniques to render those raw materials to the desired shape: machine and wood turning, resin and metal casting, acid-etching, GRP lay-up, vacuforming, and numerous other methods of achieving a model part or master. What technique the experienced model builder employs is driven by his real-life shop experience with the materials being worked and the physical challenges presented to the finished product.
Model Builders are compelled to acquire and sift through photos, plans, text and VHS/DVD/film records that pertain to the prototype; the subject; the
'real thing' we are making a model representation of. Further, Model Builders often have to prepare exacting orthographic drawings (projections of the subject in plan, profile, ends, and sections). Drawings needed to perform the critical layout and assembly tasks.
I am a Model Builder! I have and continue to invest a great deal of time and talent as I perfect my craft. I design, build, and popularize the kind of stuff you kit assemblers can only wait and hope to
be realized as a styrene or resin kit - something you can handle. You guy's have to wait for someone else to produce resin parts to jazz up the same old ST kits. It's you guy's who have to sift through an
array of after market painting stencils and decals, made by someone else, in order to breath a little new life into the same old kit subjects - model kits that thousands of others have stuck together.
How boring!
Wouldn't you want to have the skills to achieve any subject, in model form, you wished? Would you rather not have to wait decades for your favorite SF subject to be produced as a
simple kit? Hoping that some manufacturer takes on the risk of marketing such an esoteric subject at all!
You kit assemblers (most of my audience here) are likely to spend your entire lives talking about
that
ultimate scratch-build project', yet you'll never get farther than talking about it. Most SF kit assemblers talk about the craft yet invests very little time or effort perfecting their work. Did I just describe you, bunky?
I've been to two Wonderfest events. Saw lots of talking in the halls, in the suites, in the restaurant downstairs. But, I only saw a precious few worthwhile SF vehicle models on the tables. There were
a lot of talented people roaming the halls at that convention (and other competitions), why don't you take advantage? Stop those guy's who's work you respect, and suck their brains dry?
Well, I can't teach
you discipline. But, I can teach you a few techniques. If you have the guts to listen and the smarts to learn. follow me.
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